Twilight Warrior
by Gothic-Diamond
Summary: A man, just recovering from the horrific scars left on his mind from decades of war and chaos, is given a mythical weapon and thrust headlong into yet another conflict, his most dangerous one yet. New enemies will arise to challenge him, and his past will come back to haunt him. Only time will tell if his past sins are too much for him to overcome, or if he will rise above them.
1. Dive Into the Heart

**Twilight Warrior**

**Chapter 1**

**Dive Into the Heart**

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><p>Disclaimer: I do not own the Kingdom Hearts series or anything else other than this computer. This story may contain demonology and religious views that some might find heretical or offensive. Don't like, don't read.<p>

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><p>(Sanctum of Awakening, Unknown time, Unknown Location)<p>

Falling.

That was all he knew.

'_I am… falling?'_

He thought as he fell headfirst into a dark abyss.

He allowed himself a moment so to enjoy the feeling of free falling, but in the end common sense won out and made him look down (or up, seeing as he was falling headfirst), only to see to see a large body of water, then all he knew was darkness as he lost consciousness when he crashed face-first into it.

'_Maybe I am dreaming…' _He thought to himself when he regained consciousness and noticed that he was still falling, but more slowly this time.

'_Maybe this is a lucid dream, or some kind of vision.' _He pondered, as it felt like he was descending though water, but there was no feeling of water filling his lungs or sensation of wet clothes clinging to his skin.

The figure opened his eyes and saw that he was descending not through water, but Darkness. Even though it wasn't water, he was leaving a trail of bright blue fist sized bubbles as if it were.

_'Odd'_ was all he though at the sight of the bubbles.

The man noticed he fell headfirst still, so he shifted his center of gravity in order to right himself. No sooner than he did that his feet hit something solid.

Scraps of Darkness peeled off the ground and, turning into ravens, flew away into the distance.

'_But this is too real to be a lucid dream, and it does not this feel like a vision.' _

As if to confirm his previous thought he clenched his fist hard enough to feel his fingernails leave crescent marks in his palms. _ 'So this is not a dream at all then, then where am I?'_ He asked himself, knowing full well that pain went directly to one's consciousness, breaking any illusion built to distract.

When the darkness scattered, he squinted as a bright light pierced the abyssal darkness, coming from a circular column topped by a stained glass platform.

He rose an eyebrow, the platform really shouldn't have been able to support his weight (stained glass was really nothing more than shards of colored glass held together by a frame), unless of course there was magic at work. Which, going by everything else he saw today, he assumed that there indeed was.

All around were pure white trees, glowing/humming with tremendous pent up energy (1), _'those were not there before.'_ He could barely see the bottoms of the trees as they disappeared into the darkness below. The treetops of the barren branches were just a few hundred feet above his head.

The hundreds of trees, all somehow making a beautiful humming that sounded like a choir of seraphim. But despite their heavenly aesthetic, he could sense that they were anything but holy.

Faint waves of rainbow colored energy wafted off of them. The waves of close together trees came together in somehow gentle explosions of rainbow energy mixing together and spreading outward.

When he was able to draw his attention from the beautiful white trees around him and concentrate on the platform itself, his eyes widened in shock, but then he closed slowly and smiled fondly when he saw the image.

Miyuki, a woman 29 years young and his long deceased wife.

Her snow white hair fell down to her waist in the back, with twin bangs falling down to frame the sides of her face. Her beautiful pink eyes (2) were canted and framed by white eyelashes. She had a heart shaped face with small deceptively delicate features, like a small nose and thin lips painted black. Dotting her milky white skin were light grey freckles that dusted her nose, checks, neck, and shoulders. Her figure was very athletic, denoting her status as a samurai.

She wore a black Kurotomesode adorned with white tomoe running along edges of the sleeves, and adorned on the lower half, below the white obi adorned with black tomoes, was a beautiful white dragon. Emblazoned on each side of her upper chest was her family crest depicting a small sun enclosed in a large crescent moon, and on the back in between her shoulder blades was his family crest depicting two dragons intertwined in a mating dance. The kimonos long sleeves ended at the first knuckle on her seemingly delicate hands, hands which ended in painted black nails. She wore a necklace with a silver oval pendant with a blue gemstone embedded within it.

Her left hand, the one facing outward in the depiction, was gripping the sheath of her family's ancestral sword. It was a tachi with a polished black sheath and a purple wrapped hilt.

He felt a pull on his heartstrings as he thought back to that day.

**Flashback**

_ A day like any other began for the quiet yet bustling city of Hiroshima. Only lightly bombed during the war, the people of Hiroshima (Which included Tabris himself as he had moved here not a decade before, and married a woman who kept herself indoors at all times because of her albinism) considered themselves the lucky ones. If only the citizens had known that the reason their city had not been bombed was because Hiroshima had been chosen two years before as a guinea pig for a monstrosity that had yet to be created. _

_Each morning the air raid sirens would sound throughout the city, but rarely was a bomb dropped. Around seven o'clock on the morning of the 6th of August, the air raid sirens went off again in the just waking Hiroshima. Many had rushed to the air raid shelters, others ignored it, which sadly included a certain certain woman with a snowy complexion and her baby. By 7:30, the warning had passed, another false alarm over a reconnaissance plane was what every one assumed, and then they were free to begin their day._

_Or so it seemed._

_Tabris had gone off to his job at the library, walking at a sedate pace and enjoying the scenery. But then, it happened. He was almost to work, just a few dozen feet from the doors._

_Suddenly, a strong flash of light startled him, and then another quickly followed. . . . A profound weakness overcame him, and even with his monstrous strength he could barely stay upright, so he stopped to regain his strength._

_Upon doing a quick overview of himself, he found, to his surprise, that he was completely naked. . . . All over the right side of his body he was cut and bleeding. A large splinter was protruding from a mangled wound in his thigh, and something warm trickled into his mouth. His cheek was torn, he discovered as he felt it gingerly, with the lower lip laid wide open. Embedded in his neck was a sizable fragment of glass which he matter-of-factly dislodged, and with the detachment of one stunned and shocked he could only study it and his blood-stained hand._

_Snapping to attention, he remembered the girls at home, as the place was far closer to the impact point than he was. With this in mind, he ran as quickly as he could._

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><p><em>It was 10:30 by the time he had made it to the ruins of his home, and upon locking onto the life signs of his family, he went to lift the rubble off of them.<em>_  
><em>

_The sight that met him was one that that haunt his nightmares for over one hundred years._

_The monstrosity code named 'Little Boy' by the U.S. military was dropped a few short hours ago and obliterated Shima hospital and any object in a two kilometer radius. _ Tens of thousands were killed in the initial explosion, and hundreds of thousands more died in the aftermath.__

_The air was rank with the stench of death, choked with smoke and fire. Thy sky was reddish orange, alight with fire and sulfur. Burnt corpses lined the streets, and the nearby river was filled with countless more, the water stained a deep sanguine color._

_Screams of the survivors were heard from miles around, most of which were burdened with half-burnt and bloodied bodies. Other survivors were relatively unharmed, but were infected with varying degrees of radiation poisoning and mental scarring._

_Miles above, in the very plane that dropped said bomb, many of the soldiers looked down on the hell below, and took their own lives. The ones that didn't, were convinced that their very souls were the price of this victory._

_In the coming years, many were convinced, both U.S. and Japanese, soldiers and citizens alike, that if there was a hell, this was it._

_His eyes were wide filled to the brim with terror, and a torrent of tears were flowing from them. Horrified beyond belief at how quickly a peaceful city could become such a hellish place._

_In his arms was her, Miyuki, her once pristine white hair crumpled and turned to ash, and her white skin was now charcoal black, cracked and bleeding. Her chest heaving in agony, and her hands grasped desperately at his neck. Her eyes were boiled and melted away, leaving only empty sockets filled with blood. Her legs, lifeless. The bones in them, as well as most of her body, having been turned to dust._

_Her mouth was open in a scream, but nothing came out, save for a little blood and a hacking/wheezing/croaking sound known as a death rattle. This was caused by the liquidation of her vocal cords and the broken neck that resulted from the force of the shock wave from the blast._

_Her body, roasted alive by that horrendous invention._

_In the end, it was he, her husband of two years, who snapped her neck in an act of terrible mercy, "forgive me" was all he could utter, for even though he knew that his last act would spare her horrendous pain, he felt in his heart the he had done her a great injustice._

_It was then that he had heard a cry that pierced his heart, and looking to the side, he saw a red shimmering shield under a broken beam._

_Setting Miyuki upon the ground, he walked over to it, and moving the beam out of the way and dispersing the shield he recognized as Miyuki's magic, his tears began anew as he gazed upon the form of his infant daughter Yuki._

_He smiled and picked her up in his arms, she had inherited her mothers light skin and his dark hair. Her heterochromic eyes were a perfect mix of her parents though._

_His smile as he held her close was bittersweet, for he had lost his whole life with Miyuki, but gained another in his daughter Yuki._

**End Flashback**

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><p>He was kneeling, weeping and touching the face of the image. Their life together was such a tumultuous, but loving one.<p>

A voice brought the figure out of his daze, **"You are here… right on time."** He gasped, and jumped into a stance, as per instinct as well as habit.

**"Good, punctuality is a fine trait."**

"Who are you?" He asked warily in a dulcet tenor, and the voice answered **"I can be nobody… or anybody. That is for you to ponder. But for now I am simply your humble guide."**

"Ok-" he said, loosening up into an upright standing position, but remained wary, his body loose but ready to lash out like a serpent at any would-be attackers, "-why am I here?" he finished.

**"Something terrible is going to happen."** The voice responded, and he asked, thoughtfully, "Am I here… to learn how to stop it?"

**"What is to happen, no one can stop. It has been foretold, and any attempt to stop a prophecy from happening-"** the voice started "-will only make it happen" he finished.

**"Yes"** the voice responded.

**"You are here to learn how to survive… for you have been chosen to play a pivotal role in the events to come." **It said in a strong but soothing voice.

He furrowed his brows as he pondered on the guides cryptic words.

**"Now that questions are out of the way… let us have a look at you."**

He felt thousands of eyes peering at him from all directions, leaving him feeling quite naked. He was not ashamed of his body by any means, but he feeling was still a disturbing one.

The figure looked to be in his early to mid-twenties.

He stood at 5'11". His skin tone was a dark golden.

His face was an oval/teardrop shape with thin aristocratic eyebrows and lips.

His hair was a silvery shade of white that flowed like a waterfall to the small of his back. His bangs, which were naturally parted in the middle, framed both sides of his face and were cut at shoulder length.

The figure's slightly canted eyes were a royal purple and were ringed silvery white eyelashes.

His arms were disproportionately long, but not so much so as to be noticeable upon a cursory glance. His elegant hands ended in long slender fingers with black painted nails. His legs were long as well, and his bare feet were also slender and ended with similarly painted nails.

His muscles were finely toned to fighting perfection, they were lithe and sinewy and not overly bulky. (3)

He wore a full-length black silk robe and a pair of black bell-bottom pants, both brocaded with intricate embroidery. Around his neck was Miyuki's pendant hanging on a thin silver chain.

"No, that simply will not do." His eye twitched in annoyance, as he felt very insulted by the insinuation. He had vanity issues, but not enough to give him an obnoxious disposition.

A mass of Darkness covered his body, making him gasp at the unexpected event, and he would have done something about it if he felt any malicious intent.

When it faded he was wearing his normal outfit, though it now bore several protection spells that he could sense on top of the already existing regenerative ones.

He was now dressed in black formal boots with a 1" heel, a custom tailored and fitted suit consisting of formfitting formal black Egyptian cotton bellbottom pants, a black leather belt with suspenders and an ornate silver buckle, and a formal white spider-silk shirt with a black Egyptian cotton tie. Next was a formfitting black Egyptian cotton tailcoat with his family crest emblazoned on the upper back and Miyuki's family crest on a white patch on his lapels, and last was a pair of formal white silk gloves.

Beneath his clothes he wore a skintight suit of mythril plate-mail, with mythril mesh at the joints to provide for freedom of movement.

Lastly, strapped diagonally to his back by a white braided silk cord secured Miyuki's ancestral tachi sword: a nihonto blade that was longer, and had a greater curvature than a katana. The hilt of the sword was royal purple braided silk wrapping atop black shark skin, and the sheath was hardwood with a black finish with a purple silk sageo. (Oni Tachi: Ryujin)

"Very nice." He said, admiring his clothing as well as the new enchantments he could feel woven into them. His family did not do anything, even dress, lightly. They did everything to the best of their ability, from the way they fought to the way they dressed to the way they acted.

**"Now then-"** the voice began as two swords appeared.

The first sword looked to be made of pure white crystal, fashioned into a cross between a skeleton key and a sword.

The other sword resembled the first greatly, but was darker in color and design.

**"-Choose your path."** The voice finished.

'From what I can guess, the first one represents Light, and the other represents Darkness. Light or Darkness? Darkness? Light? Light and Darkness in equal proportions would be Twilight… More Light than Dark would be Dawn, and more Dark than Light would be Dusk. But no matter…'

He made his decision, and reached grabbed them both, swinging them with a flourish. But then, they both vanished and then he understood.

He wasn't supposed to wield either of them, they were too weak to use as actual weapons.

They were merely allegory, their purpose simply being to help him choose his path.

**"You have chosen the Path of the Warrior."** The voice said, and Tabris sighed at the name.

Path of the Warrior was the name he had chosen for his self-invented code of honor.

He didn't know if this was done on purpose just to annoy him, or if it was simply coincidence, but saw little point in bringing it up either way.

He felt his eyes close (though he didn't will that movement himself), and when his vision cleared he saw himself standing in the middle of a crossroads at the center of a large grassy field. Above him was a very clear night sky, there were no clouds in the sky or light pollution in the air, so he could see the nebulae and stars freely.

He turned his head to the left, **"Guardians of the Light… Keybearers who have learned to harness the powers of Light."**

He turned his head to the right, **"Seekers of Darkness… Keybearers who have learned to harness the powers of Darkness."**

Lastly, he faced the middle road, **"Warriors of Twilight… Keybearers who have learned to harness the powers of Darkness and Light together. This union gives them great power, but at the cost of something dear to them."**

**"Keybearers are often gifted with Spellbinders, special gemstones that give them the ability of greater understanding, which is necessary for the journey you have been chosen to embark upon."** He reached a hand down to his chest and touched his pendant which he noticed was now glowing with an internal light.

**"It will also allow you the ability to understand any language you come across."**

Well, he was already fluent in over thirty languages and several different dialects of each… so that feature should not come into much use.

**"Since you are a Warrior now, you should know of the beginning. As you well know; those who do not know history, are doomed to repeat it."**

The Seeker's fist clenched in remembrance of past sins _'yes, this I know without a doubt'_ he thought to himself as he was enveloped in Dark energy.

When he came out, he was floating over a castle town made of a strange but beautiful material that resembled crystal.

**"Long ago… people who could use the Keyblade have started appearing. Some having chosen the Light, others the Dark."**

In whips of Light and Darkness respectively, people wearing Guardian Armor (which resembled European plate armor with a formfitting leather under layer), and Seeker Armor (which resembled black muscle tissue with boots, helmets, and a skirt-like cloth, with actual metal armor in key places) began appearing in the courtyard.

In the center was a female drow, with long white hair that shone like starlight and smooth jet-black skin. Her eyes were large and slanted with vivid purple irises. She had an incredible bone structure and an athletic build.

The drow warrior was wearing typical drow armor with an obsidian spellbinder embedded in the center of her breastplate.

**"But the first Keybearer, a female drow by the name of Valsharess (4). She was the first Warrior of Twilight, chosen master the X-Blade, the ultimate and original Keyblade."**

In her hand was a large Keyblade which looked like two bladed keys crossed in an x-shape, with a broad white double edged blade extending from the two crossed ones. The keychain emblem was a black heart with a red outline, and two crossed blades in the middle.

**"But one day, some of the Guardians came to the opinion that Darkness shouldn't exist."**

In a flash of Light, about a third of the Guardians changed; their armor was now all white, with one having gold accents. Some of them had white bladed halos, and a few of them even had angelic wings, numbering anywhere from one to six.

"They came to the opinion-" he parroted, "let me guess, they were frightened of the Dark?"

**"Unfortunately yes. Fear does seem to lead to the most irrational decisions."** _'Indeed'_ he thought sadly, remembering his own past, all the screams pulled from the throats of others at his hands.

"These heretics began to go by the name Minions of the Light, and in their opinion that Darkness shouldn't exist, began the first Keyblade War."

In a flash of light, the beautiful crystal paradise became a desolate wasteland with but tiny crystal flakes blowing in the wind.

**"The ensuing war destroyed their home world, the birthplace of the Keyblade order. All that remained, was an empty shell, forever to be known as the Keyblade Graveyard."**

Down below, the Minions were warring with the Seekers and the Guardians. Many lay dead, but neither side looked like they were loosing.

**"In the end, Valsharess herself had to step in and end it."**

In a sonic boom, the drow from before appeared, X-Blade in hand, and with great bursts of speed struck down the Keybearers nearest to her, then she stabbed her Keyblade into the ground. She charged the Twilight energy within her into a condensed orb above her head, and with a scream loosed a wave of purple energy that annihilated everyone in the area and scarred the landscape even further.

In the end only she stood in the empty desert, the only proof that anyone else was ever there with her were the countless Keyblades stabbed into the ground to serve as their grave markers. With her own hand, she had killed all that remained of her friends and family. She collapsed into sorrowful tears.

The vision faded and he stood in silent reverence.

**"After that, Valsharess was the only Keybearer left, and she had to begin all over again. Only this time, the Keybearers couldn't play such a major role in the universe, lest there be another war.**

**"Ever since, the Keybearers have been few and far between. Working from the shadows as silent peacekeepers, never being seen, never being heard, never being known."**

The figure's face fell only slightly. He was used to a life of secrecy, as he had been trained quite extensively in ninjitsu.

**"Now you must learn of the enemies you will inevitably face. They are like nothing else you have ever faced before, but by no means the toughest of enemies in the cosmos."**

A pool of inky Darkness appeared on the ground, and a Red Seeker of Darkness rose from it. The figure was completely concealed, as he wore a helmet with a black dome. In a flash of Dark energy, his heart exploded from his chest and the body vanished. The heart was consumed by Darkness and twisted into something else entirely.

It had a humanoid body structure and pitch black skin and spherical, glowing yellow eyes. Its crooked antennae were quite long and fell back behind the it. It seemed to be rather muscular but extremely thin. It's hands were very large, each one sporting five clawed fingers. Its feet were long, lacked digits, and resembled curved and pointed boots. Its body was lined by several faint, blue veins. (Pureblood Heartless: Neoshadow)

**"The Heartless. When someone dies by means of the loss of their heart, the Darkness inhabiting that heart emerges, and becomes a heartless. They fight against the light with all their being, as it pains them to look upon what they will never have again."**

In another wisp of Darkness, the Heartless disappeared. In a flash of Light, a Guardian of Light with blue and silver armor appeared, he was wearing a crown shaped helmet with a visor, and a white cape. In another flash, the heart exploded from his chest and vanished, and the figure contorted into a new creature.

It had an extremely thin, sinuous body. It had a large, cylindrical head with a flat top emblazoned with a symbol. Its body seemed to be covered in a light grey jumpsuit, and its "mouth" was actually a zipper that undid itself to reveal its actual grey, sharp-toothed mouth underneath. It appeared to be fairly muscular, though its arms and legs were very thin. The sides of its body were outlined by a black line. Its feet and hands were pointed and lacked digits, and its hands each sported two black bands around them. (Nobody: Dusk)

**"The Nobodies. When someone of a strong heart and will, be they good or evil, becomes a Heartless, the body left behind gains a will of its own. A Nobody, if left alone long enough, can regain their heart in time."**

The Nobody disappeared in a patch of bubbles and crystal dust, and a normal human in ragged clothing appeared. The human gripped his head in pain and rage, and contorted and twisted into a new creature

It was a humanoid creature with predominantly blue skin. Its hands were silver and ended in large three-fingered clawed hands. Its head is diamond-shaped and sported two short horns on either side of it. Its red eyes were set in a sorrowful expression and the its logo was emblazoned on its chest. (Unversed: Scrapper)

**"These are the Unversed. They are the opposite of life, and are born from negative emotions. It is unknown exactly how they are created, but even so it never fails one to be cautious."**

The Unversed disappeared in a cloud of Darkness, and a Minion of the Light appeared. Its armor, cape, and helmet were completely white, but became a new creature in an explosion of Light.

The something had a pure white body in a vaguely feminine shape, it had a metal "Cross Flory Fetch" on its torso with rivets holding it on, another metal Cross Flory Fetch was present over its face in the shape of a mask, while a metal Cross Moline adorned each of its thighs down to its knees, segmented metal bands covered over its left forearm and hand but left its fingers bare, its legs were ended in sharp blades that seemed to hover just off the ground, a white ring of Light hovered over its head, and its right arm was replaced by a short sword with segmented bands over its still present forearm. (Pureblood Soulless: Prism…) (5)

**"The Soulless. When one dies blinded by Light, their soul is 'cleansed' of Darkness. The heart, that person's emotions and instincts will become a Heartless as normal, but the soul, possessing only Light and conviction, will become this.**

**"Now, you must learn to fight these new enemies. Good luck."**

In a flash of Purple Energy, a Keyblade appeared in his right hand. It resembled a European long sword, it was 41' long overall and made from a grayish-silver material. The blade was 31' long, and 0.9' wide, and 6 centimeters thick. The blade had a triangular shaped tip, and extending out of one side was an arrowhead shape split down the center with two prongs sticking out either side. The hilt was 9" long and had a guard that completely encircled his hand. Attached to the end was a 6" long chain that ended in an emblem shaped like two sharp prongs sticking out to either side, and an additional one sticking out at a right angle to the two lower prongs. (Keyblade: The Key of Twilight (6))

A Neoshadow jumped at him without warning. Now, he was used to being attacked suddenly, so he threw out his foot behind him and roundhouse kicked the Heartless in the chest. As his foot landed, he reached his arm back and stabbed it down the center with his gloved hand. With the thing immobilized but not yet dead, he plunged his sword into its belly and brutally swung his hand and sword outward, cutting through it's sides and killing it.

Three more pools of inky blackness appeared on the ground, from which arose the same number of Heartless.

One, he beheaded as soon as it finished rising out of its pool. The second, he cut in half horizontally. The last one was able to scratch his helm, but did not manage to damage it. He finished it off with a cross slash; he slashed it horizontally and, using his momentum, spun on his heel and followed through with an upward vertical slash.

**"Good, again."**

The Dusk jumped at him from behind once again, and he tried the same strategy as with the first Neoshadow, but it contorted right around his foot, so he slashed at it with his blade, and that seemed to work as it came apart in two pieces.

But then the two pieces started moving independently. He used an ice spell, the blast of freezing air hit the two pieces of the Dusk, freezing them and shattering when he applied a bit of gravity magic.

Same as before, three more appeared. He killed the first by blindsiding it with a water spell. The second and third double teamed him and kicked him on opposite sides of his waist, but the impact was absorbed by his mythril armor. He dealt with them both with a crescent moon slash (7).

"Excellent."

The Scrapper came at him from the front this time, so he slashed at it with Twilight but it contorted out of the way. He cast another water spell and the boiling water hit its silver claw, but stopped eating away at it after one arm.

In a burst of speed the Warrior appeared behind the Unversed, and cut it in half vertically, and its two halves fell apart before vanishing in Dark wisps.

Again, three more Scrappers appeared.

The warrior had one major character flaw, he was very annoyed at repetition, and as such he was starting to get more savage in his methods.

He swung his sword at the first one so fast that, as well as being cut the thing went flying over the edge. The second one, he dropped his left hand sword and slashed at it with his claws (shells of magic energy he created over the tips of his fingers) leaving four gashes in its midsection, and he cast the ice spell three times, then smashed the frozen remains with an axe kick. He dropped his sword and ripped the third apart with his bare hands.

**"Yes! One more time."**

The Prism appeared and attacked him with a vengeance. After awhile of its arm blade and his magic claws clanging together, it spread its arms and disappeared in a flash of Light. His head suddenly cleared of the semi-berserker state the repetition rendered him under as it's arm blade got him in the back. It didn't penetrate his armor, but he did feel the force of the strike. He grabbed the sword and slashed that location, cutting off the arm blade. He stabbed his clawed hand into its head, then cut it in half hip to shoulder, and destroyed the two halves with a fire spell.

Three more appeared as predicted, and all three bent the light around their bodies to become invisible.

Knowing that as a Warrior, the implications of the manipulation of Darkness, Light, and Twilight energies were theoretically limitless, so he decided to experiment. He dismissed his claws and channeled Dark power into his fist and slammed it into the ground. It had the desired effect of sending a dome-shaped shock wave of black energy in all directions, which immediately annihilated the three now visible Soulless.

**"Good. You are ready."** The voice said, and Darkness began creeping up his form,** "Don't be afraid young one… for you are a Warrior of Twilight."**

(1) These trees are from the forgotten forest in Final Fantasy 7

(2) I love albino people. Most weren't dealt a good hand in life, and I acknowledge that. I just think they are very beautiful people. Also, freckles are not caused by sun exposure, the sun causes freckles to darken in color, hence the myth.

(3) The inspiration for my OC's appearance was various sources, but mostly Yaag Rosch, Vergil Sparda, and the Belmont clan. For his body type, reference Soul Caliber IV, character creation mode, physique -50 muscularity +50.

(4) Valsharess means Queen in the drow tongue.

(5) The Soulless belong to 26-Lord-Pain. I will, however, be creating a completely different back story fro them.

(6) The key of Twilight belongs to CBJ3, and is depicted on his picture Another Side, Another Story on deviantart.

(7) Crescent moon slash is an advanced battojutsu technique, one is able to pull it off without a sheath by hooking it against another sword and using that to build resistance.


	2. Homeland

**Twilight Warrior**

**Chapter 2**

**Homeland**

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><p>(Atra Terris, December 12, 2044, Canada)<p>

The man from before opened his eyes, _'familiar ceiling' _he silently commented upon seeing the stone ceiling of his bedroom.

He silently lifted the sheets and sat up. Looking around his room, he saw that nothing was out of the ordinary.

The thirty by thirty room was adorned with a beautiful stone floor, and the walls and ceiling were smooth black marble lined with white veins.

The far wall was covered head to toe in a magicked and locked display case with rows of weapons of various different types and makes that he had crafted or collected from his defeated enemies in his travels (and had long since mastered the use of). There were all different types of swords, axes, hatchets, spears, beam weapons (an imitation of bladed weapons, but with a controlled beam of ionized plasma rather than a blade) even an oar that he won off a particularly eccentric warrior/fisherman.

The wall opposite his weapons was a wall lined with books and scrolls. Every genre from romance to fantasy to instruction manuals and even several different language versions of such books as the Kama Sutra, the Ananga Ranga, the Perfumed Garden, The Tao, and books on tantrism decorated the ornate mahogany shelves.

There was a three-hundred year old statue of the angel of death, a memento of a lost love, halfway between the bookshelf wall and the door, with his late beloved's scythe in it's stone hands.

His trench coat and wooden dog tags from his service in the American civil war was hung on a mannequin in the left hand corner, it was a dark-brown ankle-length duster. There were still mud stains and tears from its use in the trenches. He kept the coat as a memento, something to remember his comrades by.

He knew some good men in those times, and they deserved to be remembered.

Last, there was a relatively new computer and headset in his walk-in closet. His daughter had given it to him as a present, he would have thrown it away had his mother not cast a spell which prevented him from doing so.

A decision he later came to appreciate when he discovered his love for video games, he has bought plenty of them since then. He found that they helped tremendously as a coping mechanism, especially the more peaceful, slower paced games like Journey, Flower, and Flow.

He yawned, he was in the bedroom of his most recent home. Said home was a formerly abandoned mansion on the outskirts of a forest and a small town. He had traveled to a great many places in his life, always living in poor conditions. That was, at least, until he had moved in his most current home, refurbished by the organization he worked for for his use. So much time and work went into the place that he felt compelled to stay, even though he was not used to such luxurious trappings.

Truth be told he just was not entirely comfortable living a life of easy luxury at first, when he stayed in one place too long his fighters spirit became restless. He was a creature of the road, of travel and of the battlefield.

He may have not liked the constant warring of his past, but he has long since accepted it as his lot in life. Though a part of him did quite enjoy the act of fighting itself, and he would be lying if he said that it was only a small part.

He looked at the calendar, December 12, 2049 (1). Next he looked out of his window to see the landscape he so enjoyed about this part of the country. On one side of his house was a beautiful forest, and on the other was an old style small town. The area between the forest and town, was a grassland area covered in wildflowers.

'_Something terrible is going to happen… I wonder what though, and when?'_ he asked himself, but then he had doubts.

'_Or was that just another dream.'_

Sighing, he began to get ready for the night. Because of his current lover being a vampire he had developed some peculiar habits. He only ever needed half as much sleep as a normal human being anyway, so he coped by sleeping four hours at the end of the day, so that he would wake shortly before sunset.

He stripped himself of his sleepwear and putting on his suit and armor. He could clearly sense all the new enchantments on them, so he knew his dream was not just that.

He went over to his armory wall and grabbed his tachi, which he strapped to his back, a spring-blade which he strapped to his forearm beneath his sleeve, and some throwing knives which he concealed in his coat, and lastly a combat knife strapped to his boot.

He swept his hair back, allowing his long wavy silver hair to fall loosely to mid-back, leaving his bangs parted to frame his face kept in place by an enchanted onyx circlet with a garnet decoration at the center of his forehead.

Lastly, he grabbed his coffin shaped cello case & a woolen cloak and left.

Once outside he climbed onto Geryon, his coffee colored Clydesdale/Arabian mix and rode into town.

The town (village actually) was a small town in Canada surrounded on all sides by a forest. It was one of those small farming communities that the majority of the modern world did not think existed anymore, where everyone knew and were close friends with each other, and half of the town was related; either by blood or by marriage.

The town's residents were wiccan, and it was roughly a week from Yule, the holiday celebrating the winter solstice. It was a beautiful ceremony, he so enjoyed to sit in and observe.

Three hundred and fifty-seven years ago during the Salem which trials, some of the villagers (the ones who actually _were _versed in witchcraft and some who weren't) escaped and headed northeast. They discovered a large clearing in a forest and founded a town where they could live in peace.

One would not think that a place like this would have much contact with the outside world, but in fact they did. They had several carefully and meticulously picked couriers dedicated to bringing in new knowledge, technology and philosophy. They were also trained in self-defense; the villagers might have been a non-violent lot (witchcraft is more or less the practice of making herbal remedies and using prayer to heal), but that did not mean the rest of the world was.

The word witch was actually somewhat of a bastardization and a product of the fear of the ignorant masses. The true term a 'witch' uses to describe themselves is 'Wiccan Healer'.

His destination was a small library near the outskirts of town, open only at night. Seven years ago he had provided the funding for it to be built and even helped in the construction. The construction was finished a few months later and he managed the place ever since.

It did not pay much, but that did not really matter as he did love working with books, except when people came in asking for the Stephanie Mayer's Twilight saga, then he just wanted to strangle them.

He had known several vampires in his lifetime, and knew for a fact that they were beautiful but terrifying creatures of the night, and yet Mayer's books made them look like woodland fairies. _'Sparkles and granite... pah'_ he was honestly surprised that that Stephanie Mayer was still alive after the excrement she wrote and dared to call it vampire literature.

Then again, if the patrons asked for Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles he would gladly accommodate them… her stories were more acceptable. Not even close to having any degree of accuracy, but they were acceptable nonetheless. Right up there with those were Sheridan la Fanu's 1872 novella Carmilla, and Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.

Once he had arrived he climbed off of his horse, gave the magnificent animal an apple, combed the horse's hair with his fingers and unlocked the doors and walked inside. It was routine, a rut he had fallen into for these past few months of peacetime. He did not even have to think anymore, his body would move automatically. This gave him strong feelings of boredom in spite of himself.

He went behind the front desk and draped his cloak over the back of the black leather office chair, sat down and proceeded to play his cello (Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G) with his eyes a hairsbreadth from being closed and a faint smile on his face.

After a few minutes, patrons started to filter in and started browsing the shelves, all the while accompanied by his music.

After a few hours, he saw a young woman in green and black clothing browsing among the shelves.

She was the a full foot shorter than him, very thin (but with excellent muscle definition) and looked to be about nineteen. She was fairly petite, with c-cup breasts and a small round rump. Her thick snowy hair was short and had two locks spiked up to resemble cat ears, the rest fell down around her shoulders. She had large almond shaped heterochromic purple and pink eyes and an oval shaped cat-like face (she looked even more like a cat when she smiled, she had this unique way of curling her lips into a cat-grin) with deceptively delicate features. Her brows were thicker and shorter than his. Her skin was an attractive shade of olive, several shades darker than Miyuki's, but several shades lighter than his own.

He smiled, she looked exactly like her mother, but her right eye and skin tone were clearly inherited from him.

She wore a custom fitted green and black outfit that he didn't entirely approve of. Black bell-bottom trousers with the sides of the hips down to just above her knees cut out to show off her thighs, they were held up by a dark green braided leather belt. Next was a dark green lacy corset cut short about an inch above her nipples. Over that was a formfitting black leather sleeveless knee length coat. On her feet she wore black leather knee-high heeled-boots under her trousers. On her arms she wore dark green elbow length opera gloves with black fingers, giving them a resemblance to cat's paws. Finishing off the outfit was a choker with a small round bell at the front.

He sighed as he noted that, once again, she had gone without undergarments. He kept bringing it up with her, but she kept insisting that nothing ever happened during her forays into the cities outside the forest._  
><em>

That 'nothing' was costing him a fortune. Not that she couldn't fight any attackers off, he just proffered to err on the side of caution.

He smirked, official records stated that her name was Yuki and that he was tutoring her on the weekends.

But, as said before, that was just the official story. In truth she was Yuki, his and Miyuki's daughter. They had to keep to that story in public as he only looked twenty-seven, far too young to have a nineteen year old daughter.

She had, at best, a rather strange personality, was a moderate fighter (by his standards at least), and was quite the pervert (for which he faulted her mother, she certainly did not get it from him). Going out of her way to rub up against her sparring partners whenever possible, much to her family's chagrin.

His smirk fell the moment their eyes met, and she opened her mouth and shouted over excitedly "TABBY!" she ran up and jumped, aiming a sloppy kick at him. He nonchalantly blocked with his black adamantine cello case/shield, while nonchalantly drinking from a wineglass.

However, this time she anticipated his action, as the same scene played out many times before. She flipped, grabbing his cello case, and landed with her pelvis hitting him in the chin. She hooked her knees behind his head and bent down, hugging his head.

The act caused him to drop his glass, which would have spilled on the antique wood floor had he not caught it with his foot.

To many onlookers this would have looked to be a sexual situation for them to be in, but it was merely her giving her beloved father a hug. As he said, she was a little strange.

The few people in the store stared dumbstruck, he hooked his fingers in her belt and pulled her off. He dropped her, and then recaptured her by her choker and pulled her in till their noses were barely an inch apart.

"What do you want, Yuki?" He said noncommittally, to which she replied with "nothing." She smiled and stuck out her tongue flippantly.

Saying nothing in response, he let go of her choker and sighed. Seeing his non-responsive gesture, she wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled her face into his neck. "Aw, Tabby, don't be like that!"

"Stop calling me that." he murmured, half turning away but returned her hug all the same… "But I thought you liked it when I call you Ta-" she started, mixing (as she always did) the word daddy with his love for all things feline, her expression resembling a puppy dog pout (although in her case it was more of a kitty cat pout), but she did not get to finish as she was interrupted a finger to her lips and a kiss to her forehead.

She pouted at his constant babying of her, making him chuckle at the cute face she was making. "I had a weird dream last night" she admitted with a genuinely scared look on her face.

His face fell slack, as he listened to her talk. As she explained, he sent a mental command to the patrons in the store to leave, then he set her down in a chair and gave her a glass of tea wile he refilled his wineglass. "So,-" he started when she finished "-it happened to both of us then." he said thoughtfully…

"Both of us?" she asked in a half hopeful manner. "Yes, I had that dream too." he said. "So then that means that you have a Keyblade too right?" she said hopeful that she could have something else in common with her dad.

"Show me! Show me! Show me! Show me!" she exclaimed with a bright smile smile. Ha just grinned at her exited attitude and summoned the grey/silver Keyblade in a flash of purple.

"So pwetty" she said amusement, "yes, I know" he replied in a vain manner. "So vain, nya" she mocked him, pawing the air with one hand and grinning with her patented kitty grin, conveniently forgetting the fact that she was just as vain as he was.

In response he simply flicked her lightly in the forehead "owwie!" she exclaimed as if it hurt, scrunching up her face adorably.

"So, what do we do now?" she asked, back down in her chair and sipping from her half empty glass, "well I showed you mine, you show me yours" he deadpanned. Yuki smirked salaciously at the unintended innuendo and grabbed her coat at the shoulder and her corset above her heart and began to pull, but stopped when he gave her a warning glare. She giggled and said "well you should learn to watch what you say!" and summoned her Keyblade.

Her weapon looked to be a Japanese tsurugi sword.

The sword was 35.5" long overall. The blade was 28' long, and 1' wide with teeth in the shape of her mother's family crest roughly 2' from the tip. The circular guard and was intricately carved gold, and the hilt was 7 ¼", and was wrapped in dark green wire. Attached to the pommel was a 6' gold chain that ended in the same crest in black. (Keyblade: The Pride of Otsutsuki)

"Very nice" he said, appraising it. "What is his name?" he asked, to which she simply replied "The Pride of Otsutsuki, but I don't understand. Who or what is Otsutsuki?"

He hummed thoughtfully, "It was your mother's maiden name, I don't know much more than that. She would never tell me, she was terrified of people coming after her if word got out about her family name.

"Even knowing how strong I am, she was actually even stronger than me, but she was still deathly afraid." He told her, getting lost in though, not for the first time, on what it could possibly mean.

"Umm…" She said, drawing his attention, "what do you mean by 'his'?" She asked in confusion. He looked at her blankly, _'she may be smart, but let it never be said that she was terribly wise or insightful.'_

"The Keyblade is no ordinary weapon Yuki. They are sentient like you and me, they choose their wielders and their power and form comes from the nature of their cholsen wielder's spirit. Besides, you know how nobody likes to be called 'it'." Tabris told the girl in a lecturing tone.

The girl pouted her lips and said "no, I don't know. No one has ever called me 'it' before." His eyes narrowed, and he responded "very well. You are a thing. Does not feel so good, now does it?" She looked at him blankly with one eyebrow raised, as if to say she felt nothing. He sighed heavily at his daughter's ignorance.

"I guess... we should leave" Yuki said abruptly, and at Tabris' inquiring look, she explained "tell the others about this, I mean, what if the thing the guide was warning us about is the end of the world or something else even more scary like?" she explained, scratching the back of her head absently.

"Hmm, I guess so. Let us go then." he said, and with that, he turned around and, holding the door for her and locking up, they went to his steed.

"Hey, can I drive?" she exclaimed, completely ignoring the fact that one could not drive a horse, he guessed that she was asking if she could ride in front. "No" he answered calmly after a moment of stupefied staring and ignored her as she proceeded to curse at him.

He climbed up onto the ornate leather saddle and reached down to help her up as well. She sat behind him, hugging him around the waist and nuzzled her head lovingly against his back. With nothing better to do, as Geryon knew where to go, he let his thoughts drift onto his earlier dilemma.

Miyuki was practically a goddess, he had never once beaten her in anything. The only reason she had died where he lived was because his body constitution was hundreds of times stronger than hers and because she sacrificed herself for Yuki, using up all of her magic to protect her from the blast.

What could possibly scare her enough that she was frightened of saying her own name in public? When he asked her about her non-hesitance about wearing her family crest on her clothes, her only response was that if anyone in the know ever looked at her, it would have been so obvious who she was that the crest wouldn't have mattered.

Whatever it was, he had reason to fear them too. Even though it has been over a century since her death and he was much stronger than he was back then then, the level of fear she held in her eyes told him more than words ever could.

Before he knew it, he was at the Knights of the Holy Order mother-house . The place was a very large and very old Gothic castle. It was close to ten miles away from the town, halfway between the inner and outer borders of the Forest (1).

The Knights of the Holy Order was an ancient organization (originally called the Brotherhood of Light), officially formed in the 11th century but existing since the before the 1st. The Order was an organization founded by the Catholics of Rome, but then Christians and Buddhists joined the order and it became an alliance of all the religions of the world, a bastion of tolerance and brother/sisterhood between all people.

The Order was dedicated to the study and observation of all things from the supernatural to the paranormal, even visits from outsiders (aliens), and how they related to the natural world. Over time, elements of the supernatural were even incorporated into the Order and it's membership began to expand from just being humans to including all manner of races such as dark as vampires and as benign as fairies.

In ancient times the Order were more of a freelance organization, settling worldly issues as they saw fit and handling the slaying of monsters. Over time the world governments and religious organizations began to oppose them because of them being perceived as a threat to their own power. In more modern times however, the Order had strong ties to the worlds governments and religious organizations, with members providing advisory services and council in times of need.

All in all, in a very real way, the Order was an organization at the center of everything.

They climbed off, he gave Geryon a bushel of apples and they headed into the large double doors.

As they passed through the house, they received glances from the other children of the elders. Aside for meetings the elders children lived there, barring Tabris of course. Not that he had wanted to live there in the first place, as he had learned in his travels that there was a simple honor in poverty.

They headed down the ominous corridors to the council chamber, but before they could enter the giant black suits of armor moved and blocked the door with their pole-arms.

This castle, also, was a member of the Order. The seemingly inanimate building was possessed by a demon so ancient that few living remembered his/her name. The demon would often change the pathways and rooms on a whim, as such it was impossible to memorize or map the place. When the Knights came to occupy this castle long ago, the seemingly malevolent spirit had to be convinced to let them stay there.

It had been convinced after many years of horrifying nightmares. The demon castle no longer threatened the lives of Order members, but thieves and break-ins were fair game as far as the demon was concerned. As a solution to the castle's murderous tendencies, the heads of each generation put up wards to make thieves and break-ins forget why they came and turn back.

"Gate guardians" he began, "there has been an emergency. The council of elders must be convened. I plead to thee, let us pass." The guardian's took a moment to think on his words, and then they unbarred the door.

They bowed and entered. The council room was a large circular room with a long rectangular glossy black table with intricate silver designs on the sides. Four intricately designed chairs sat on either side, and two sat at either end (2).

Among the Order, the word Elder was a relative term. It could either refer to those who earned a seat from their work in the field, or those who received a seat from internal service (research and development).

The term elder actually came from the less talented members who earned their council seat after a lifetime of work, hence the term… Elder.

The High Council is set in place as a tool for all within the Order to make use of. The purpose of the High Council is to aid in the process of group formation as needed, act as a governing body in matters pertaining to the Order as a whole, and to be a judge and/or jury if asked to settle disputes.

The Holy Order High Council convened regularly once a month, but the elders could be summoned in case of an emergency, as was the case now. The high council's main purpose was to hide the existence of the supernatural from the world.

Yuki took her seat at the left side of Morenn's designated seat. Tabris took his own seat on the opposite end and side of the table, to the right of his Mother's seat

The placements had significance as well.

Noah and her wife Morrenn were the co-heads of the Knights of the Holy Order. There was never just one leader, there were always two co-leaders, each presiding over the military and political aspects of the Order. They sat at either end of the table, with the elders who they presided over sitting (highest to lowest, according to rank) at their right.

The right-hand side from the door was for the Order's militaristic arm. Fighters whose job was to act when things escalated to the point where the paranormal was under threat of being exposed. He sat at the head of the right side, signifying that he was their best fighter (second only to his mother Noah), trainer of new recruits, and commander of the Holy Order's armed forces.

The left-hand side was for the highest echelons personal advisers. Politicians whose job was to make sure the paranormal was never exposed to the world by playing chess-master with the worlds governments and intervening where necessary. Yuki sat at the head of the left had side, signifying that she was the Order's head politician aside from Morenn. She may have not have been as wise as either of her parents, but she had a silver tongue and a mind for politics unrivaled by either of them.

Yuki tapped her finger on the side of the table, which thanks to scientific advances, had a supercomputer build into it. What she actually touched was the hidden power switch, and several dimly lit panels lit up on the surface. With a few key strokes, she summoned the council members.

Roughly two minutes later, six of the Elders teleported into the council room in the designated summoning arrays roughly two feet behind their assigned chairs, and then Noah and Morenn appeared in the two throne-like chairs at the heads of the table.

Noah was a tall, Junoesque woman of two hundred and sixty-five years. She looked to be almost thirty, was taller than him at six feet, and more full figured than Yuki but less than so than his current lover. She had long white hair, royal purple eyes, dark golden skin, and an oval/teardrop shaped shaped face. She wore a formfitting black velvet cassock with intricate patterns on the cuffs.

He had to stifle a groan as he noted that she wore nothing underneath the cassock, as that and the frustrated look in her eyes hinted at her prior activities.

Morenn looked to be in her mid-twenties. She was shorter, but had a fuller figure than her wife. She had short, wild black hair, emerald green eyes, and a more rounded face. She had forest green skin with vibrant red tribal markings in various places. She wore an outfit resembling a 1-piece swimsuit made from vines and leaves (but considering her tendency to wear nothing at all, Tabris was grateful for the change). She carried a 24" scepter made from black ash wood. She was not as intimidating as her wife, but was still frightening as hell when she wanted to be, and at the moment she was looking particularly scary.

Morenn was a Dryad, a type of wood nymph. Upon her wedding with Noah a century ago, she began to share her magic with her, extending Noah's lifespan to match hers as well as halting the aging process and even reversing it till her body was in it's prime.

The woman to the left of Yuki was a Chinese elder named was Fei Zhi. She was bald, wore a jade headdress and a red cheongsam outlined in black. On her waist was an ornately designed dao sword in it's sheath. She was the one who up spoke first.

"What is the purpose of this gathering?" she asked in Chinese.

All of the Order elders were multilingual, as they all preferred to speak in their native tongue. The elders had long learned each other's languages so they could speak in their chosen language and be able to understand each other as they all spoke in theirs.

In response to Fei's inquiry Yuki and he summoned their Keyblades and telekinetically hovered themover the table, and Noah and Morenn's frustration disappeared instantly at the potentially disturbing bit of news. Noah and a few other's eyes widened in recognition, "Keyblade…" Ferris, a redheaded trench coat-clad vampire elder who sat three seats down from Tabris muttered thoughtfully in German.

"I have not seen one since the war…" remarked Noah in Romany.

Kagura, a Japanese oni elder that held particular animosity for the resident princeling, looked to him and growled. She sat two seats down from him. "Explain this, you cur!"

Kagura wore an elegant white sleeveless kimono-like garment, which went well with her pink skin and purple hair. She was full figured and had an attractive face that could be seductive at one moment and terrifying the next, but she never frightened him which is why she fell in love with him. She had two small horns on her forehead, amber yellow eyes, and leaf shaped ears with two large golden rings in the right one.

She was a forest oni, type of ogre that had smaller bodies than the more common mountain oni.

She bore intense hatred for him, stemming from the fact that she was his worst student, too old and set in her ways to learn anything from him, but she was a great warrior regardless with her being the fourth ranked warrior in the Order next to his mother, himself and his lover.

He had said so to her once and like a child she threw a tantrum, accepting the criticism and ignoring the compliment, and thus challenged him to a duel.

After two decades, her emotional wounds were still healing. The phrase 'hell hath no fury' lacked substance when the target of said fury is half-dragon.

The rather aggressive oni would normally attempt to do more than just threaten. Tabris smirked, taking it as a sign that the oni woman understood the significance of Keyblade lore, and thusly could not do anything, so he simply smirked. The princeling could feel the other's glares burning holes into his head as he looked to his mother.

"So it is real. I thought I was just high." the elder to his right, Ninotchka, said in a heavily accented Russian.

She summoned a Keyblade as well, and hovered it over the table.

The scimitar-like blade was 39.5" long overall. The blade was 30" long, and 6mm wide, with a 1" deep curvature, and was a deep silver in substance. The guard was a silvery-black in color. The hilt was 9.5", and the handle was a plain metal hilt wrapped in black silk. Connected to the pommel by a hook-like protrusion was a 7" long tassel, and at the end was a black rose blossom. (Dark Keyblade: Precious Rose)

"Ah, you too my dear Nina?" The prince replied in ancient Egyptian, suddenly very interested.

Seeing as she had birthed him while investigating a lead at the ruins of Memphis, Noah had decided on a spur of the moment decision to teach him ancient Egyptian as his first language.

The woman to his left growled, and her eyes glowed with a Dark light at the (misinterpreted) challenge. She was a Russian elder, in life she had been a KBG assassin, almost the stereotypical archetype of one in fact.

Her physical age was thirty-five. She had long, thick, messy black hair, blood-red eyes, an angular face, and she was tall, full-figured, and very muscular. At first glance one could correctly assume she was a descendant of the ancient Amazons of Greece, save for her alabaster skin due by her being a high-class vampire.

Ninotchka and Ferris were representatives from the Vampire High Council. In fact Noah was the only Order Elder of this generation who was a full-blooded human.

She was the exact opposite of Kagura, in that she was his greatest student. Ninotchka was the lieutenant of the Holy Order's Knights, but was his rival for the general position.

She wore a formfitting blood red sleeveless shirt, leaving her muscular arms bare save for black hardened leather vambraces, and formfitting black trousers that were tucked into her knee-high black leather boots. Last were formfitting black leather gloves tucked into her vambraces.

She rose to her feet and leveled her revolver at him, which she had used on many occasions to blow a hole through his head, though only sometimes as the result of a battle.

It was a double barreled revolver. The 8" long, and 0.25" wide barrels were made of gemsteel, and were decorated with rose shaped runes. At the base of the vertical dual barrels was a single revolving chamber that carried twelve enchanted rounds (either an explosive round or a special non-lethal round she used in sparring). The handle was made of gemsteel as well with a rosewood grip embedded into the sides, and hooked to it was a silver chain with a charm. (Dual-Revolver: Archer)

Tabris rose from his chair and twisted his hand, launching a throwing knife into his hand.

Noah immediately halted the impending fight by throwing two long knives into their foreheads.

Morenn simply shook her head with a chuckle.

The assassin and the princeling fell back into their chairs, seemingly lifeless. The other elders were disappointed that there would not be a fight this time. During every council meeting, Ninotchka got into a fight with someone, mostly Tabris, the reason for this being that as a teenager she was brainwashed by the KGB, as most of their assassins were, and before that she was brainwashed as a child into being a sex slave.

The damage to her mind was repaired upon being turned into a vampire, however her violent streak remained. Her behavior amused the other elders, unless of course they were the targets of her ire.

However, the source of hostility between Ninotchka and Tabris was different than anyone suspected. Ninotchka and Tabris actually had quite a loving relationship. He met her seventy years ago when she was still a newborn vampire and he was still a vampire hunter. Though the two loved each other, both of them loved a good fight as much as they loved to mate.

The two joined the Holy Order after she defeated him, and a few decades thereafter the two became lovers. But it was taboo for a human to offer themselves as willing donors for vampires, so to throw off suspicion they acted the part of rivals, which was convincing enough for all but the most observant due to the unending sexual tension.

Their relationship was originally threesome with them and Kugura. But around twenty years ago Kagura was jilted, causing her animosity for Tabris and Nina. She left the relationship in a bad place, ruined for any other man by Tabris and ruined for any other woman by Ninotchka, this served only to cause her untold amounts of stress as she only ever had sex once since then, and it was so bad comparatively that she swore an oath of chastity from that day foreword.

He was going to try to patch up the relationship tomorrow, the three missed each other very much, that much was obvious when they looked at each other (though they always buried their deep longing under anger).

The two sat up again, and pulled the knives out of their heads, and the wounds closed right up. Nina's, with a swirl of blood and Dark energy, and his own with a flash of his purple energy.

"Indeed. But we have something more pressing to address, if the reappearance of Keyblades on this world means what I think it does" said an elder with platinum blond hair and ocean colored eyes said in Polish. Celia was one of the few elders that Tabris had any respect for.

"Yes. I called this meeting to discuss what my vision meant." Yuki started, "in my dream, the voice said that there was to be some unfortunate accident, and this Key thing was so that I could survive it."

Some of the elders growled, not liking her tone. They were fast growing tired of her flippant attitude, but unwilling to let their aggravation get the better of them. Yuki was flippant and sarcastic, but her mind was as sharp as a razor.

They knew she wouldn't take advantage of their lapses in judgement if the end result would conflict with her morals, but they weren't willing to put that to the test.

"Survive? Not avert?" Noah spoke, and as always her words wore short and to the point.

"No, the voice said that what is to happen could not be stopped." Tabris said. To the side, Nina bit into her bottom lip in consternation over this whole situation.

"Now that you mention it, the stars have been flitting out of existence recently rather than going supernova. It could be an omen…" Morenn up spoke in French, "and on top of that, I have been sensing a feeling of great dread from the planet."

"When a Keyblade appears, disaster always follows. In the past, many there have been who used the Keyblade to avert disaster. But many more still who have invited said disaster. If you have been told that you're purpose was merely to survive a calamity, then this could only mean that terrible things are coming… things that cannot be undone. At least by powers we here possess." Noah said, the most she has said at once in public in decades.

"I think it might mean the end of this world." Yuki confessed, suddenly fearful, which started a clamor as the elders argued among themselves. They believed her to be an honest person, and they trusted her judgement.

But an apocalypse... that was exactly what the Order has been fighting against their formation. To suggest an apocalyptic situation that they could do nothing about... it was not that they didn't believe it, they just didn't want to.

Tabris sighed, _'this pointless argument could go on for hours. I should just leave them to it, I am no politician after all.' _He moved to stand up, but all the other council members stopped to stare at him with angry expressions, so he just sat back down and sighed, accepting his place as mediator.

* * *

><p>(1) Picture a mix between Walter's castle from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence and Ultimecia's castle from Final Fantasy VIII.<p>

(2) Picture the council chamber from Final Fantasy XV.


	3. Finis Atra Terris

**Twilight Warrior**

**Chapter 3**

**Finis Atra Terris**

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><p>(Atra Terris, December 13, 2044, Canada)<p>

Tabris opened his eyes to see the side of his Nina's coffin. He attempted to sit up, using one arm to lift the lid of his lover's large coffin, but was restrained by the muscular arm wrapped tightly around his midsection in a grip stronger than steel. He breathed out a sigh and relaxed into Nina's grip, cuddling his head into her bountiful chest.

The meeting the night before had, as expected, lasted hours well into morning. It was however, postponed as they needed to sleep.

Ninotchka was indeed an amazon (both by appearance and by bloodline). She was very tall, standing at 7'6". She had a beautiful face with high cheekbones, strong features and a sharp jaw line. She had well-defined, broad shoulders, muscular arms, a toned torso and waist, and long, strong legs. Along with her muscle she also had excellent curves, large, firm breasts, a round, firm arse, and wide hips.

She unconsciously hugged him tighter and murmured something that sounded like "my princeling."

He shook her awake, with the intention of getting up to reconvene the postponed Order meeting in… he looked at his clock… four hours. Shaking her didn't work, as he expected. Ninotchka was normally a very light sleeper. But whenever they slept together a feeling of safety overcame her and she refused to wake.

He had once asked her about this seeing as she was stronger than him, and her response that when they embraced she felt as if she had found her true home. That it was not so much a feeling of safety, as a feeling of belonging, of warmth and comfort.

He groaned, as he knew that only one thing would wake her from her deeper than usual slumber, not that he minded though (in fact he found it quite enjoyable). He gripped her shoulders and pulled himself up to her face, a difficult task as she was physically stronger than him, and the grip she had on him would snap his spine like a twig were he a normal human, _'I wish Yuki had never shown her that damn Sleeping Beauty film'_ he thought to himself as he kissed her chastely on the lips.

Her eyes blinked open, but before he could stand up Nina grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down.

"You're not going anywhere yet, my Princeling." Ninotchka said huskily as she straddled him and bent down for a kiss.

"You're insatiable." He stated after they separated from their several minute kiss.

"Oh darling, you know you love it." She returned with a fanged seductive smirk.

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><p>They had finished their latest mating session, and now stood fully dressed.<p>

Tabris stood in his armor and suit from the previous day, cleaned of course, but Ninotchka wore a different outfit, one that resembled more along the lines of lingerie than anything else. The outfit started out with a black lingerie leotard decorated with dark lace and ribbon, it had mesh covering the chest which wrapped around and behind her neck, and footless leggings attached with garter clasps. Next was black skirt consisting of 4 panels, with Celtic rope work embroidery. One large panel that covered her rear, and three smaller panels that fell in the front, and a large belt with Celtic knot motif buckles. On her arms she wore a pair of elegant black translucent separate sleeves with a Celtic knot design and gloves with cut-outs making a lace-like design. The sleeves were held on with leather straps and have Celtic knot ornaments on them. A pair of elegant, almost knee-length boots with a stiletto heel, a large folded down cuff, and a swirl pattern finished the outfit off. (1).

Sheathed on her back was a large claymore.

He took a moment to admire his beloved sword.

His Japanese sword Ryujin was over eight hundred years old and started out as a normal sword. But after centuries of being used in conjunction with magic energy, it absorbed some of that power and developed a will of it's own. After coming into Tabris possession, it absorbed some of his own magic, that being the final step it needed in becoming fully indestructible and far too powerful for anyone but an archmage to wield.

He used a bit of magic to seal his cello into his right shoulder, having sealed all of his other weapons the previous day, while Nina sealed her sarcophagus into hers.

He felt the earth tremble violently. The words of the guide echoed in his head, _**'Something terrible is going to happen… soon.' **__'Is it happening already?!'_ He ran outside with Nina at his side.

He gasped as he saw the forest and town, all the trees, houses, and people had seemingly vanished into thin air, leaving a flat, barren plain with hundreds of beings in pure white armor welding Keyblades.

Minions of the Light.

Nina exited the mansion to stand by his side, staring in similar shock. "I wonder if Soma and Mina are alright" she said, referring to her fledgling vampires, and he laid a hand on her shoulder in reassurance.

A beam of Light came at them, and they jumped away in separate directions and noticed that when it hit his mansion it disintegrated, so he may not have been too far off base about what happened to everything. He growled, summoned his Keyblade and ran in the direction of the motherhouse . It was a slow going course, while some of his enemies were weak, others were vastly stronger.

They, of course, had to fight their way through, so they agreed to fight back to back to avoid any unwanted surprises.

The Soulless were more along the lines of foot soldiers, not particularly strong but very numerous, more a nuisance than a real threat.

The Minions of the Light on the other hand, it was clear they were a well trained army. Each was on a different level to the next, but they were all very skilled and had excellent teamwork.

It was evident to Tabris and Nina that such an army was meant solely for invasion and the destruction of all indigenous life. But for them, who have been trained by the very best of masters, and in the harshest of conditions, the invading army was classified only as a moderate threat, but still the duo would not underestimate them.

Underestimation of even the weakest of enemies more often than not leads to defeat and/or death.

The Soulless were, from what his spellbinder told him, creations and underlings to the Minions. Tabris, however, didn't entirely believe the relic. He was of a paranoid sort, and didn't like to be tricked. He did not take anything at face value, and he promised himself to do his own research into this matter later.

There were the ones he saw in his dream, and even a few new ones, these were weaker than the Prisms, but not by much. They were little more than monsters with claws, and completely ignored their ability to manipulate light

They were pure white and feminine in design, with a grey metal Cross Flory Fetch riveted to its chest, a Cross Moline riveted to its thighs, with dagger shaped lower legs. A halo hovering over its head, a Cross Fluery riveted over its head like a mask. A metal collar was riveted around its neck, with segmented metal bands of armor coming down from its biceps to its hands, forming into metal claws at the end with riveted silver bracelets around its wrists. (Pureblood Soulless: Fanatic)

After a while, Tabris made it to the mother house, only to see that the giant castle was now just a pile of rubble and cinders, which Nina started searching through, calling for her daughters, and in the sky was an enormous sphere of Light.

A moving piece of rubble caught his attention and he ran over to move it revealing Yuki, Keyblade in hand and wearing a different outfit to the one she was wearing the day before, one that had a very obvious cat theme. She wore a small black choker with a dark green flower motif, a small dark green tunic/undergarment with a black belt with a dark green kitty paw accessory and with, and a dark green leg bandage on her right thigh. She wore a pair of black finger less gloves with dark green kitty paws with small round bells on the backs of her hands, and last were a pair of black sandles with a dark green kitty paws and golden anklets (2).

She looked up with a surprised face, "Daddy!"

She suddenly latched onto him as if he was her last lifeline, wrapping her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder. "Please… please help…" she started to say, but her voice was almost a slur from her sobs.

"Everyone… everyone is…" her knees gave out, and he had to hold her up. "Everyone is dead!" Yuki finally said, and Tabris' eyes widened in shock and sorrow. "Even Grandma!" she continued saying, but Tabris' mind was long gone.

He just could not believe it!

There had to be survivors besides them. There just had to be!

"They just… caught us off guard. Some of them went in their sleep… others tried to fight back, but were caught unprepared and were slaughtered." She managed to say through her sobs.

Nina, who had stopped her searching, walked up to stand behind him, quietly looked to the ground. "Ferris, Soma and Mina are..." she mourned, for she could no longer detect the presence of her sire or fledglings.

Tabris had a dark expression on his face, internally he was beating himself up for enjoying himself instead of coming here sooner. There was no way he could have known, but still...

He then registered what Nina said and spared a moment of silence for them, as Ferris was one of Tabris' teachers, and Soma and Mina were good friends to Yuki.

He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts, and he roughly grabbed Yuki's shoulders in a panic. "What happened to Kagura?! What happened to her?!" He asked, which made Nina's eyes widen as well, pupils narrowing in worry.

Yuki looked away as if unsure what to say, and they started to despair. "I don't… I don't know. She wasn't here when they attacked!" She yelled desperately, frightened that her father and his love would fear so for the safety of one they hated.

Tabris' eyes gleamed hopefully, so he closed his eyes and spread his sensory abilities to find her magic signature… but when he couldn't find it he looked down mournfully and let out a quiet sigh, scaring Yuki and sending Nina into further despair.

Their attentions were drawn outward again when the orb of Light pulsed and a giant Soulless dropped down from it. They looked at it for a moment, disgusted by the monster's vile aura and summoned their Keyblades in preparation for combat.

Armor appeared on Nina and Yuki in flashes of Darkness and Light respectively.

Nina's Seeker armor resembled black muscle tissue, the armor was blood red over her breasts, abdominal muscles, and her forearms. Part of the armor was grey knee-high boots with black metal knee guards and high-heeled soles. Around her waist was a red belt, hanging from which was a knee length black skirt-like garment, it was open in the front, and the black faded into red near the hemline.

Yuki was a Guardian, and so her armor resembled European plate mail. Her armor was very streamlined in shape, and instead of chain mail she wore a suit of skintight black leather. Her armor was mostly colored silver, dark green and black. She wore a dark-visored helmet with two prongs on either side extending behind her head. She wore a dark green full-length cape.

He had to wonder why he didn't have a special set of armor, he guessed that it had something to do with being a Warrior, rather than a Guardian or a Seeker. Valsharess didn't have any special Keyblade armor either, he recalled.

This Soulless was all white like the last few, had the same glowing halo over its head, with the same grey Cross Flory Fetch riveted onto its chest, a grey Cross Fluery riveted down on its mask, and a grey Cross Moline riveted down to its thighs. This one however had two billowing wings with ivory colored feathers, segmented grey armor riveted to both arms from the biceps down with spiked white brass knuckles over its hands, a grey collar was riveted to its neck, and its legs ended in daggers like the rest. (Pureblood Soulless: Juggernaut)

His eyes misted over and the spellbinder glowed, informing him of this new foe. '_A Juggernaut… largest of all Soulless and the inverse of a Darkside Heartless. Beware their power as they can bring entire worlds into a never ending Light…'_

It was at that moment that he sensed a presence. It's power was overwhelming, and he noticed it belonged to a figure in the distance. It was a Minion, however this one had gold accents to his armor. On his back were six massive angel like wings, and above his head was a C shaped silvery-white halo with three gold prongs sticking out at even intervals.

But as soon as Tabris saw him, the Minion disappeared in a flash of light.

Ninotchka unsheathed Athiir.

The claymore was a foot longer than she was tall, measuring at 78" long overall. The blade was 65" long, and 1" wide, silver adamantine; it was a gorgeous gleaming silver in color, with intricate rose carvings running down the blood groove. The hilt was 10", gold adamantine and wrapped in black leather, and was designed with a 3" bladed arrow-head shaped pommel. The guard was 6" from the hilt on both the sides, and was three thin adamantine bars in a triple-helix shape. The scabbard was rosewood and black leather.

In her left hand was the significantly smaller Precious Rose.

He grabbing his swords (which he had dropped when Yuki grabbed him). Yuki held Pride of Otsutsuki in her right hand.

He crouched into a stance, only for the thing to (in a surprisingly fast motion), grab him and throw him into the air. Faintly, over the rush of the wind, he heard Nina yell his name. As he flew hundreds of feet into the air, two large draconic white wings exploded out of his back, his coat and armor reshaping themselves to avoid being torn.

He looked down, and his face dropped as the Juggernaut was using its massive wings to fly up to him. Thinking fast, he threw his Keyblade at it, it sailed through the air, end over end, creating a black spiral shape. He gritted his teeth as the monster caught it in its hand, blackening the thing's skin.

He re-summoned it before it could close its hand and possibly crush it. It caught up to him and grabbing him again and threw him to the ground. He tried to use his wings to stop or at least slow down. But he was engulfed in a sphere of Light, making him gain momentum, until he slammed into the ground creating a small crater.

Were he a normal human, he would have died instantly, but in own durable body, and the thin layer of scales he grew from his skin to brace for the impact granted a level of invulnerability, allowing him to survive the fall relatively unharmed. He got up with a grimace, retracting the scales back inside of him, and looked up to see the Juggernaut throwing its halo at him.

His eyes widened as he jumped out of the way of the razor sharp circle of Light which bored halfway into the ground.

All the while, Yuki was hesitant to move. Tabris may have been a master of both armed and unarmed combat, but she was just a street fighter. True, he was the one who taught her to fight, but she ignored most of his lessons, preferring to go out and develop her skills the same way he did.

By going onto the battlefield and learning and adapting to new situations after his training.

The difference between their skill levels could be likened to Musashi himself fighting a common street thug (3)! What is more, this thing was throwing him around like a rag doll.

Inhaling, she pulled herself together. She reminded herself that while he was more skilled and experienced than her, she possessed far more raw power. Grinning, she looked at Nina, and they had a mental discussion on a coordinated attack. They focused their power into their blades, and swung them through the air. An ethereal white arc exploded from the tip of her keyblade, and red and black arcs laced with lightning exploded from the tips of her Keyblade and claymore, slamming into the back of the Juggernaut, the white arcs having no effect, and the red and black arcs acting like poisoned blades, and the lightning charred and blackened it's flesh.

The Soulless wailed in pain, giving Tabris the distraction he needed to jump onto its hand. He stabbed the Key of Twilight into it's arm and ran up to its shoulder, creating a gashe that disintegrated the flesh around it. When he got to its shoulder, he reared back with his blade, and unsheathed Ryujin and cut its arm off with a cross slash.

It wailed again and brushed his off with its wing. As Tabris was sailing though the air, he took a leaf out of Yuki and Nina's book, he sheathed Ryujin and channeled his power into Twilight, and sent purple arcs in a cross at the Juggernaut, slashing though its belly. The effects of Twilight turned out to be far more damaging than the blade itself, or even Darkness, as the beast was made of pure Light and existed only to abolish Darkness, the Light and Darkness in harmony with each other disintegrating it's flesh at a rapid pace.

Smirking, he then cut the air with his sword to send more Twilight arcs, slicing into large portions of its flesh, the purple energy disintegrating whatever portions of its body was not destroyed in the initial blasts.

The defeated Juggernaut, or what was left of it, fell to the ground causing a small tremor. Dropping to his hands and knees, his face drenched in sweat.

Yuki worriedly crouched next to his, "are you okay?" she asked worriedly, "I will be-" Tabris was interrupted by Nina as she pulled him into a bruising kiss. After a few minutes she pulled away and said "oh gods, I am so hot for you right now."

Looking at her blankly, Tabris raised an eyebrow. "I would expect you to still be tired from last night... and this morning." She smirked, and said "Well, some. Judging by the way you fared in that fight just now, I would say you are downright exhausted."

He adopted a thoughtful look for a moment, and replied, "more or less, I think I was going on half my normal reserves."

"Argh! You two! You guys should just fuck and get it your systems already!" Yuki yelled, frustrated at what she thought was sardonic banter between rivals (yeah… she's pretty blind).

Both of the more serious ones present looked at her blankly "yeah" they both said in a drawn out way. She huffed, and then leaned her head to one side and said, "Well, do you guys want to go now. There is nothing left here for us."

Tabris' and Ninotchka's faces adopted a saddened expression as her thoughtless remark reminded them of the situation. "Ok, let 's go. But I am not completely sure if there is anything out there for us to go to." He said hopelessly.

"Well, that remains to be seen. Besides, I learned something from the guide that I am quite sure you did not" she said flippantly. Tabris rose an eyebrow. " Oh, and what is that?" he asked in a sardonic manner.

She smirked, and held one hand out in front of her. An archway of seemingly semi-solid shadow opened up, "how to travel the Corridors of Darkness, my good sir." She said in a terrible impression of his accent, without response, as the trio disappeared into it.

But she had lied, and all of them knew it. Yuki did not open the Corridor of Darkness, it was a naturally occurring one. The fact that it opened at that exact moment was mere coincidence.

Or not, as Tabris did not believe in happenstance. He believed that in all the worlds, in all the cosmos, nothing was mere coincidence. Everything that ever happened was connected, like the entire cosmos was tied together by a web.

Or so Tabris believed anyway.

But, where they would come out of the portal, and even if they should be together when they did, he did not know, for they were to be sent where they were needed most.

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><p>AN: Finis Atra Terris is latin for End of the Dark Earth.<p>

(1) Picture the belle ensemble from Soul Calibur IV character creation mode, her body type is +50+50.

(2) Picture the kitty ensemble from Soul Calibur IV character creation mody, her body type is +20+20.

(3) Miyamoto Musashi was Japan's greatest swordsman.


End file.
